2012 Chicken Hunt

[tybo]

Good Luck to all that'll be chasing chickens this year. I am loading gear up and will be heading NW in the morning. Me and my buddy will hunting area 806 and staying in Crookston. If you see this trailer, honk, it's us:

[Matt Breuer]

Tye, maybe see you around! We'll be up, staying in TRF, hunting 803. Plan to spend most of our time around Marcoux...

[tybo]

If you see the truck/trailer look for us. I'll have a laptop with me and we are supposed to have free wi-fi. May try to meet up with you and see how you did. If we get our Chickens early, probably cursed us, we will look to chase some other birds. What is close to crookston we can throw some lead at??? Ruffies, sharpies, huns, ...?

[Matt Breuer]

You should get a shot at some sharps. The area we're in is loaded with them... Huns are still really tough to pin down, but I see a few coveys in the area every year. Mostly between your zone and ours... NE of Crookston toward TRF.

If you tag out early, give me a ring. I think you still have my number? We are going to be hunting non-stop from Friday night through Sunday night. Ducks, geese, grouse, chickens... I'm sure we can hook up at some point.

[MN Mike]

Good luck guys, a few of us picked up some leftover tags, we shouldn't be all too far from Marcoux as well, if theres too many up there, shoo them our way! We'll be in 804

I was up that way last week scoping it out, saw a few chickens but not in our zone.

Should be a good weekend for fowl, I've been seeing some good flocks of geese and a few ducks around too, I haven't hunted ducks and geese for many years but one of the guys hunting chickens will probably be out after a few birds after the chicken hunt.

Hope to see some reports.

Mike

[MN Mike]

How did you guys do?

We ended up with 4 birds for 4 guys. Plenty of birds around, must have seen a good 100+ birds Saturday and Sunday. Birds were pretty jumpy on Saturday, couldn't get close to any of the bigger flocks, none of us got a shot at any birds, we walked PLENTY ( even the dogs were getting tired ) and found some good roosting areas, so we came back on Sunday morning and staked them out.

Sunday was much better, more singles and doubles scattered around, gave us more opportunities right from the get go, less people around too, it was just us 4 and 2 other people out there that I saw.

Work won't let me out to hunt anymore chickens this week so I'm done, it was fun, hope to get a chance to do it again now that I've got an idea on what makes the Prairie Chickens tick.

Mike

[tybo]

My buddy and I each bagged a bird. We could have stayed another day but the dogs and hunters were beat up from a lot of walking. We hunted very hard for three days. We saw around 100-200 birds between hunting and scouting. I should have had my limit but whiffed on a wild flush. My birds got a little mauled by my buddies pup so it will be on a plate and not on the wall.

It was a good time and I will definitely try it again in a few years.

[Matt Breuer]

If I had never done it before, I would say it was a success and a lot of fun. Since I've shot chickens and get to hunt up there often, I thought it was one of the worst weekends of hunting I've had all year... We walked a TON, drove a lot, and didn't see a chicken. Talked to nearly every hunter in our zone and only one covey was seen all weekend at the time we spoke with the guys. We kicked up a couple of coveys of huns and a pile of sharpies, but no chickens. Nobody had one in the bag in our zone last we talked to people (Sunday). I know that around 1000 acres of CRP came out this year, and the guys who we spoke to who hunted our zone (803) were very bummed, because they have done well the last few years in that area. I did see a moose, and we saw a big timber right by Marcoux. Loads of ducks and geese. Just didn't get to bag a chicken this year... Oh well, give 'er hell again next season!